US Intervention In Italy:1948 Elections

11 Pages 2795 Words

The end of the Second World War was supposed to spark a “new world” of peace and freedom for all. Amidst the victory over Nazi Germany however, a new fear was born, coined by history as the “Cold War”. In Italy the people had won the right to vote in a “free” election and choose the type of government they deemed fit to effectively govern the nation. The 1948 elections in Italy led promise that the people, for the first time, would be able to decide for themselves how their country would begin their existence in this “new world”. The landslide Christian Democrats victory in these elections showed the world that Democracy had risen above both communist and socialist ideals in the hearts and minds of Italians. The results of this election showed the people of Italy choose to install a democratic form of government in 1948, but how much of a choice did the people of Italy actually have in this “free” election? Did the citizens of Italy truly believe that a democratic government would serve them best, or did outside interference from America corner the voters of Italy into having only one choice? This paper will examine how much influence the United States government, and the Truman Administration in particular, had in the overall outcome of the 1948 elections. The people of Italy voted for democratic ideals in these “free” elections, but did they have a choice, or did United States intervention alter the outcome of this election so much that a “free” election could possibly not have taken place?
The “red flag” went up for the United States in 1946 when it appeared that Italy had a majority Communist and Socialist government in power. The Italian Communist Party (PCI) and the Socialist Party (PSI) had together garnered more seats in the Constituent Assembly than did the Christian Democrats, causing the United States to take notice. Unfortunately for the opposition, they had run separate candida...